Captain's ready room
looks out the window of her ready room]] The captain's ready room is a personal office reserved for the commanding officer of a starship and is typically accessed from the bridge. Here, the captain can engage in administrative work with all relevant office equipment at hand without interfering with bridge operations while having instant access to the bridge in the event of a crisis. In addition, this room is usually the preferred place where the captain can hold private discussions and/or receive classified communications. Starship ready rooms NX-class On vessels of the 22nd century, the captain's ready room was located starboard of the bridge, directly across from the turbolift. Office space in these early ready rooms was much more cramped than that of 24th century vessels and featured pipes running along the length of the ceiling, which was itself relatively low. The room had one window and one door. (Star Trek: Enterprise) A short corridor outside the room was usually used as an access to and from the bridge, although it also led to the starship's network of corridors. ( ) The ready room was located to the aft of an emergency rescue hatch, as an exterior sign indicating this hatch's location was visible immediately below the ready room window. ( ) Aboard , Captain Jonathan Archer's ready room was sparse compared to its future counterparts, featuring a desk, small couch and portraits of ships named Enterprise, including a sailing ship, the second aircraft carrier, the orbiter, and the NX-01 itself. (Star Trek: Enterprise) The room was plagued by a persistent squeak that, though seemingly repaired, resurfaced from time to time until it was apparently fixed for good by the automated repair station in 2152. ( ) Two years later, the room was one of numerous areas aboard the ship that were heavily damaged during the Battle of Azati Prime. Thereafter, neither the room's door nor its door chime were functioning. ( ) audio commentary, ENT Season 1 Blu-ray special features) The cramped quality of the set unfortunately led the actors and production staff members to sometimes hit their heads on the ceiling. During production of Star Trek: Enterprise s first season, Chief Lighting Technician Bill Peets observed, "Because the set is so low, we have a running joke: Who hit their head today? Some people actually wear hard hats now because so many people have cold-cocked themselves and gotten a lump on their noggins, including the actors. When you get to this set you've got to be careful." ( ) Some of the furnishings in the set for Archer's ready room came from a French designer. |All the prints in the series of Enterprise illustrations were made by John Eaves, who, due to his own oversight, had only twenty-four hours to produce the drawings. A fifth, that of the World War Two carrier was additionally slated to be part of the series, but had to be left out due to space restrictions on the wall. Set Decorator James Mees recalled of the ready room, "We were trying to show that Archer was someone who had a past, a good past, and who remembered that past; that's what the show is so much about." ( |As evidenced by the final draft script of , a short, ultimately excised scene from that episode was to have shown a Ferengi named Ulis searching Captain Archer's ready room for the ship's vault.}} Galaxy-class On a starship, the captain's ready room was located port of the main bridge, beside the forward-port turbolift. It was approximately seven meters in length. ( ) Among the items kept in Captain Jean-Luc Picard's ready room was a copy of The Globe Illustrated Shakespeare: The Complete Works, a model of a Constellation-class starship (registry NCC-7100), a crystal model of a sailing ship and the [[Kurlan naiskos|Kurlan naiskos]] given to Picard by his mentor Richard Galen ( ; ) as well as a tank containing his fish, Livingston. The room featured a large desk with a personal computer and three chairs, a couch, a large portrait of the , and, in a side alcove, a food replicator. Picard ready room entrance.jpg|The entrance to the ready room USS_Enterprise-D_ready_room.jpg|The interior of the ready room Ready room window, remastered.jpg|An external view of the ready room Picard's desk.jpg|Jean-Luc Picard's desk with monitor and personal items Q and Livingston.jpg|Q with Livingston, a lionfish kept by Picard in his ready room , showing Picard walking out of the corridor, back into the ready room proper. Also, the couch in Picard's ready room was actually constructed to slide out from the wall for use as a bed; though this function was never seen in use, it could occasionally be seen with the bed part either pushed too far into the wall or sticking out farther than intended.}} and , showed the outside bulkhead of the ready room as squarish in shape. This did not match the configuration seen on the exterior model of the Enterprise-D. Also incorrect was the reflection in the window, proving a perspective that made it appear as though the ready room window actually faced forward.|In the film , the fish tank was seen blackened and apparently drained following the crash of the Enterprise. When asked what exactly had happened to Picard's fish, the producers admitted that it most likely perished in the crash. |Many of the scenes involving conversations in Picard's TNG ready room were filmed independently from scenes on the bridge, meaning that the latter wasn't always fully dressed, when seen from inside Picard's ready room through the open door. Oftentimes this resulted in the bridge set outside the door not being fully "ready" as a real bridge would be; many times, particularly during the last two seasons, the emergency turbolift alcove directly across from the ready room alcove was not lit and, in many cases, the two forward consoles were not staffed. Also, there were many instances when an actor would come to speak with Picard actor Patrick Stewart and then leave the ready room set, with the camera (and, therefore, the audience) remaining in the ready room with Picard; through the open doorway, the departing actor could clearly be seen walking towards the viewscreen. Within the Star Trek universe, those actors would have been stepping into a solid wall where the viewscreen was; as it was, the nine-foot-tall cavity where the viewscreen supposedly stood was actually the means by which actors entered and left the set, as it opened directly onto the soundstage. Only in scenes specifically requiring the viewscreen to be seen was the bottom of the screen frame – discernible by two vertical separation lines near the corners where that part could be removed – attached, and either a bluescreen matte or a starfield drape placed outside, to give the illusion of an image.}} . While the sets for TNG were under construction, Andrew Probert and Rick Sternbach became interested in providing some form of decoration to fill up a large blank wall space which was over the couch in the newly designed ready room. "So Andy and I approached Decorator John Dwyer ... and said, 'Something needs to be put over that couch, " remembered Sternbach. "Then we volunteered to do a painting." Bearing in mind that captains' offices typically have some form of ship painting, Probert and Sternbach agreed it would be fun if the painting was an illustration of Picard's own vessel. Probert subsequently planned the picture's layout. Having no office computers, the pair of production staffers chose to render the image using traditional media, which were acrylics on eighth-inch Masonite. Sternbach painted the background then Probert painted the ship, impressing one another with their work. "We did it on our own time," said Probert, recalling the picture's creation. "Each of us took it home to work on. When it was ready, we loaned it to John to put in the captain's office." During the series run of TNG, many viewers were awed by the painting when they saw it on-screen but it was only ever mentioned in a single episode: by Berlinghoff Rasmussen in . Several prints and posters of the painting were publicly released after the series concluded. "The painting got around," noted Sternbach. {Star Trek: The Next Generation 365, p. 233) Although David A. Goodman regarded the TNG captain's office as "beautiful," he referred to the Enterprise picture as "terrible." ( audio commentary, ENT Season 3 Blu-ray special features)}} Despite remaining mostly unchanged throughout its service aboard the Enterprise-D, Picard's ready room was temporarily redecorated (most notably, the fish tank removed) when Captain Edward Jellico briefly took command in 2369. ( ) A smaller, seldom-used ready room was also incorporated into the battle bridge on the stardrive section of the ship. ( ) issue 115, p. 75)}} Livingston gone.jpg|Edward Jellico had Livingston removed... Jellico ready room.jpg|...and showcased several of his son's drawings. Galaxy class battle bridge ready room.jpg|The battle bridge ready room... Picard's battle bridge ready room desk.jpg|...included a desk and monitor. Defiant-class Like the other rooms on the , the ready room of the was small and compact. In 2374, Captain Tim Watters spoke to Nog in the 's ready room. Watters told him of the Valiant s mission to destroy a Jem'Hadar battleship. Watters and Karen Farris later brought Jake Sisko to the ready room to warn him to stay away from Dorian Collins. ( ) Several months later, Captain Benjamin Sisko spoke to Captain Lisa Cusak from his ready room. They talked about the Dominion War, Starfleet's attempts to liberate Betazed from the Dominion and his discomfort with having Kasidy Yates aboard. ( ) In 2375, Sisko spoke to Ezri Dax on Deep Space 9 from his ready room on the Defiant to tell her they had been unsuccessful in locating Worf and other members of the . ( ) Intrepid-class s through the ready room window]] On an starship, the captain's ready room was located starboard of the main bridge, beside the tactical station. The desk, which featured a work area and access console, was the focal point of the room, located in front of the main entrance door. A raised level in the front section of the room featured a small table, a curved couch, and a food replicator. The bulkhead behind the couch featured three windows facing the bow of the ship. A port-facing door beside the main entrance provided secondary access to the room from a deck 1 corridor. ( ) A shelf beside the main work desk allowed the commanding officer to display personal belongings. Captain Kathryn Janeway, of the Intrepid-class , used this shelf to display various historical and archaeological items. s briefing room.|For the production of , Captain Janeway's ready room was redressed for use as Counselor Troi's office (somewhat appropriately, since Janeway's couch was first seen on TNG in Troi's Enterprise-D office). The set was also modified for the Voyager episode , lit with darker tones and decorated not with historical and archaeological items, but with weapons of various designs.}} in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode .|The schematics for the Voyager ready room were sold off on the It's A Wrap! sale and auction on eBay. They were drawn by production designer Richard James and set designer John Chichester and located on Paramount Stage 8.'' }} Sovereign-class Aboard vessels, the ready room was located to the forward starboard side of the main bridge. It featured a small window looking out into space and a private entrance located off the bridge. Captain Picard's ready room aboard the featured a desk and small couch. It was decorated with items from the previous Enterprise, including his Mintakan tapestry. It also contained a large, gold model of the Enterprise-E herself, along with the Enterprise-D, C, B, A and the original Enterprise. ( ) did show evidence of the existence of a cylindrical-shaped fish tank that apparently did not make it into the final cut of that movie, nor any of the others.|The room was mostly unchanged in . However, director Stuart Baird requested that it be redecorated for its appearance in , thus, the Mintakan tapestry was removed. Also, the small corridor leading to the bridge was slightly lengthened and the model of the Enterprise was added.}} Other Captain Benjamin Maxwell had a ready room aboard the starship in 2367, as did Captain Leyton aboard the during the Tzenkethi War. ( ; ) Ready rooms have also been included within starships built and used by other spacefaring organizations than Starfleet. The Andorian Imperial Guard, for example, were known to equip their vessels with such a room as early as 2153, when Commander Shran used a ready room on the Andorian battle cruiser Kumari. ( ) There was also a ready room aboard the Xindi-Primate Degra's ship, around the same time. ( ) Similarly, the Klingon Empire constructed ready rooms in some of their Birds-of-Prey; General Martok had a ready room aboard the in the 2370s, ( ) and another while briefly serving as commander of the in 2375. ( ) takes place inside the ready room of the , but the same scene in the final version of the episode seems to take place on the ship's bridge. The Okinawa s ready room was mentioned in that episode but never appeared.|Worf and Martok are the only characters who were seen using both the ready rooms aboard the Rotarran and the Ch'Tang.|In the final draft script of "Proving Ground", the Andorian ready room was described as "a small compartment aboard Shran's ship, decorated with personal memorabilia from Shran's career in the Imperial Guard." The room was additionally described as including "a work area" at which the room's occupant could sit and "a small monitor".}} could have contained a damaged memento from the Enterprise-D's ready room, suggesting either the lionfish, now skewered, or Picard's book of Shakespeare, ripped in half. (Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages, p. 306)}} File:Kumari ready room.jpg|Commander Shran's ready room aboard the Andorian battle cruiser Kumari File:Degra's shuttle - ready room.jpg|Degra's ready room aboard his shuttle File:Phoenix ReadyRoom.jpg|Captain Benjamin Maxwell's ready room aboard the Federation starship File:Klingon ready room.jpg|General Martok's ready room aboard the , a Klingon Bird-of-Prey File:Cardassian ready room.jpg|Weyoun's ready room aboard a Cardassian starship Appendices Background information The concept of a ready room was first conceived by Robert Justman, who proposed the creation of such a room in a memo dated . (Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion 3rd ed., p. 8) Years later, he recalled, "I suggested to Gene [Roddenberry] that we should have a captain's ready room, for what we both considered as a dramatic necessity. In a show like ''Star Trek, you need to have a place where the star, or the captain, can go to have a privileged conversation with someone else, without the possibility of being overheard. To me, the ready room was the perfect place to have that." ( , p. 74) Justman took the idea from Navy experience he himself had had. http://larrynemecek.com/articles/Bob-justman-interview.pdf The ready room was therefore in accordance with Roddenberry wanting to adhere to naval custom. ( , p. 24) James Mees was of the opinion that the identity of a ready room's occupant should inform how the room itself looks. "''My question is this: Does a ready room always have to have a desk, a chair, and a place for someone else to sit, or does the form and function of the room vary between races?" Mees asked. "To me, it seems clear that different people need different spaces. For instance, Degra's Ready Room is more a working laboratory than an office, because that's what he wants and needs." ( , p. 36) David A. Goodman picked fault with the captain's ready rooms whose walls featured Enterprise pictures, such as the ready room aboard the Enterprise and the equivalent room on the Enterprise. He thought it unrealistic that a person's office aboard an active spacecraft would have images depicting outer space, rather than trees or other more down-to-earth imagery. Although Chris Black countered that each captain couldn't see their respective spacecraft from the outside, Goodman noted each vessel's external appearance was nonetheless known by its commanding officer. Black settled the debate by reminding Goodman he meanwhile had a picture of his office building on a wall in his own office. ( audio commentary, ENT Season 3 Blu-ray special features) The practice of using ready rooms seemed to have fallen into disuse by the mid-23rd century, as the did not appear to have an area specifically designed to serve as a ready room – at least none that was shown in the entire run of The Original Series. Captains instead received a small office area in their quarters, as seen aboard the Enterprise refit in and . Although space station Deep Space 9 likewise didn't feature a captain's ready room, it nonetheless had an office for the facility's commanding officer and Production Designer Herman Zimmerman once likened it to a captain's ready room. ("The Deep Space Nine Scrapbook", DS9 Season 1 DVD special features) Apocrypha A scene in the non-canon comic The Modala Imperative shows Admiral McCoy and Ambassador Spock touring the Enterprise-D and, when they get to Picard's ready room, McCoy states that, if Kirk had had such an office, they would have never gotten him off the bridge. External links * * de:Bereitschaftsraum fr:Bureau du capitaine ja:艦長待機室 Category:Starship sections